


the river of night’s dreaming

by mechup



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24495166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechup/pseuds/mechup
Summary: The Doctor is trapped and it's up to River to save him.
Relationships: Eighth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	the river of night’s dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song Over at the Frankenstein Place from Rocky Horror

“Can you hear me?” River says into her communication device, her voice laced with the franticness that runs through her. He’s at the complete opposite end of the ship they’re on and she’s not sure if he’s okay or even alive and while this kind of thing does seem to happen often, she’s _worried_. It’s not at all surprising they’ve ended up like this, because they always do, but that doesn’t make it any less stressful. She sighs to herself and then says more forcefully into the communicator, “Doctor, I need to know if you can hear me or not.”

“Yes, I can hear you,” comes the Doctor through the communicator at last. He sounds a little staticy, but it’s clear enough to be understood. He still isn’t entirely sure who she is — in fact, he still has absolutely _no idea_ who she is — but her constant concern for him is, well, it’s _endearing_. He doesn’t know why she cares so much but he doesn’t have much room to comment because he knows less about her than she knows about him and he’s found he’s also extremely anxious when he finds that she’s in trouble, which seems to have happened to be every time they’ve encountered each other. “What’s happening on your end?”

“Not much,” River admits after a moment. She looks at the computer in front of her in hope but it doesn’t show anything. “What about you? Have you been able to get the door open yet?”

“No,” the Doctor replies, beginning to sound frustrated. If he doesn’t get out of here soon, then he won’t be able to get to the TARDIS and every person on this ship, including him and River, will be blown up. “It’s deadlocked. The sonic won’t work on it.”

“If I can get this computer to work,” River says, hitting it lightly to get it to cooperate, “then I can get you out. But it is _not turning on_.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine for now,” the Doctor says, and River can’t tell if he’s telling the truth or not. He could run out of time at any second and she wouldn’t put it past him to lie to her in order to save everyone else. She’ll never forgive him if that’s the case, but she can’t be too mad because she’d expect nothing else from him. “Maybe you can figure something out and override it if I don’t find a way to get out. Don’t worry about me; focus on the other people on the ship.”

“Okay,” River says after a moment. If she works quickly then she’ll be able to save everyone _and_ get the Doctor to safety. She hits the computer lightly and presses the power button again and this time, it flashes on. She gives a sigh of relief and informs him, “I got it to work. I’m getting in right now.” 

“Wonderful!” he replies, having never doubted her ability for a second.

She types quickly as she logs in, and then asks, “What room are you in? Do you know?” 

“It’s the one all the way down at the end of the corridor,” he answers, and River nods. She types quickly and is very thankful that every computer here has a map of the entire ship on it.

“Okay,” River says, scanning the map for the corridor they’re by. “I found it. And I can see the room that this alien friend of ours is in. I can go to the main deck, open your door, and close the alien’s so he can’t get to us.”

“Do the alien first. Well, the other alien,” the Doctor urges and River rolls her eyes because she just _knows_ he’s grinning at his bad joke. 

She moves quickly out of the room she’s in and heads to the main room. She arrives there as fast as she can and slips her communicator into her pocket. The Doctor has his own communication device up to his ear, trying to hear River’s progress. There’s suddenly a lot of voices coming through so he assumes that means she’s made it to the main room. He remains quiet, listening intently, trying to focus on what’s going on. 

“What are you doing?” he hears someone yell from River’s side and he feels his hearts speed up. If she isn’t able to convince them she’s here to help then she’ll most likely be harmed. And no one on the ship will make it out alive, but that’s mostly an afterthought. “Stop! Who are you?”

“I’m Professor River Song,” she says, and the Doctor freezes.

“Professor River Song,” he repeats, mumbling the name to himself. He frowns, because he’s sure he’s never heard that name before, but it also sounds familiar. Either way, it sounds perfect, especially coming from her own voice. 

River continues, “And if you and all the other people on this ship want to stay alive, then you need to let me do this.”

“Do what?” someone else asks and the Doctor can practically hear River’s frustration when she replies.

“I just need to get over to that control panel and do a few things. You have a rampant monster on board and I need to keep it in the room it’s in. And I need to get someone else out of another room.”

“What room?” the other person asks. “The rooms that are locked, we keep locked for a reason.”

“Room four B,” she tells them.

“I can’t let you do that—”

“Why not?”

“Because, Professor, that room can’t be opened for more than ten seconds unless we all want to die. Which seems to be counterproductive from what you want to do since you apparently are intending to save us all.”

“Doctor,” River says, now holding her communicator and speaking directly into it. “Did you catch any of that? Can you get out of there in ten seconds or less?”

“Yes, I think so,” he answers. He can run fast, he tells himself, he’ll be able to get out in time.

“There you go then. He’ll be out before the ten seconds are up,” River says to the other person. The Doctor doesn’t get to hear if anyone replies because River moves away to, the Doctor assumes, the control panel. “Are you ready, Doctor?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he answers, and a few seconds later he hears his door unlock. He turns the handle to open it.

“Come on Doctor,” River says urgently. She doesn’t think he can hear her so she adds, “If you get out alive, I’ll kiss you.”

The Doctor runs out and pulls the door shut behind him, and if River’s promise encourages him to go faster then no one else needs to know, lifting up his communicator so he can speak. “I’m out!”

“Stay there,” River tells him. “I’ll come to you.”

She meets him in a minute or so and he’s sure her relieved expression at seeing him matches his own at seeing her. 

“You saved me!” he says happily, like he expected her to have complete success. “Thank you, River.”

“...How do you know my name?” she asks, knowing for a fact she hadn’t told him.

“You said it to that person earlier, in the main room,” he explains simply.

“Well, it was no trouble,” she replies, already making plans to wipe his memory of this encounter, beginning to turn around and start walking. “Why don’t we go find your TARDIS?”

“Wait,” he says before he can stop himself and she pauses to look back at him. He clears his throat and tells her, “I believe you owe me a kiss.” 

River’s eyes widen and she asks, “You heard that?” She hates that it’s this version of him, because she doesn’t have it in her to say no to him. She certainly doesn’t have any qualms with kissing him, but she does try to uphold _some_ responsibility when it’s one of his younger faces. He nods and she sighs, leaning up and sliding a hand towards the back of his neck. “Fine then.” 

She presses her lips against his, meaning for it to be a quick peck, but she finds that she quickly forgets herself and deepens it before she can stop herself. It lasts longer than either of them expected it to and when they pull away, they’re both out of breath. 

“Well,” the Doctor remarks, for lack of anything else to say. “Thank you.”

River just shakes her head and laughs despite herself. She takes his arm and begins heading in the direction of the TARDIS, figuring there’s no harm in waiting just a little longer before erasing his memory this time.


End file.
